Hand-brake for railway-cars.



J. F. OCONNOR.

HAND BRAKE FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED `JUNE 9.1911.

1,300,465. I Patented Apr. 15,1919L fag] y.

" f/ f7 /25 97 k# lll-muml l WITNESSES., lul-mn;l Z9 INVENTOR Jaim/FZZ/z/zar UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEroE.

JOHN F. OCON'NOIR.,` 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG'NOR TO WILLIAM H. MINER, 0F CHAZY,

. NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

Application led June 9, 1917. Serial No. 173,853.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JOHN F. OCoNNoR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Hand-Brakes for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specificatlon.

This invention relates to improvements in hand brakes for railway cars.

One object of the invention is to provide an efficient hand brake for railway cars and the like and which is of compact =form, requiring a minimum amount of metal and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Anotherand more specific object of the invention is to provide a hand brake of the type indicated wherein the -necessity of coillng a chain Iaround a drum, as the brake chain is tightened, is avoided.

In the drawing forming a part 4of this specification, Figure 1 is an elevational view of a hand brake embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional view, taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, the chain being omitted. Figs. 3 and 4 are vertical, sectional Views, taken substantially on the lines 3-3 and 4-4 of Fig. 2.

' Fig. 5 is a horizontal, sectional view, taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. l.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail sectional view,

taken substantially'on the 'line 6-6 of Fig. 3 and illustrating more particularly the arrangement of pawl. And Fig. 7 is a view corresponding to'v Fig. 2, but illustrating a different embodiment of the invention.

' In said drawing, and referring to the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6,v 10 denotes the w-all of a car to which the improved hand brake is adapted to'be applied. The brake, as shown,'comprises an inner plate 11 fitting directly against the Wall of the car, an outer hood or casing member 12 riveted or otherwise secured to the car wall,

The casing 12 is of substantially cylin-` drical form havingl an outer wall 18 and circular side Awall 19, the latter being recessed at the bottom, las most clearly indicated in Fig. 2y at 20, in order `to permit the necessary movements of the operating lever 16 and the entrance and exit of the chain 15. The hood 12 is provided with an annular shoulder at its inner end, as indicated at 21, which ooperates with the edge of the plate 11 and is thereby adapted to hold the latter securely in place against the wall.

The plate 11 is provided with a preferably integral hollow bearing 22 onwhich the sprocket wheel 14 is vrotatably mounted. The sprocket wheel 14 is shown as of substantially rectangular form (see Fig. 3) and i is provided in its periphery with suitable notches or recesses 23 and 24 to receive the links of the chain 15 in the manner shown most clearly in Fig. 3 Iand so that, as the sprocket wheel 14 is rotated, the cha-in 15 is passed over the sprocket wheel positively in a direction dependent upon the direction of rotation of the sprocket., wheel. The sprocket wheel 14 is also preferably provided with an integral ratchet wheel 25 on lone side and a second ratchet wheel 26 on the other side. The ratchet wheel 25 forms a suitable bearing for 'an annular collar 27 formed on the upper end of the operating handle 16 whereby the latter is permitted an oscillation during the winding up of the chain.` The operating lever 16, near its upper end and on the lower side of the ratchet wheel 25, is provided with a pivoted pawl 28 adapted to coperate with the ratchet wheel 25 and said pawl 28, as most clearly shown in Fig. 6, is provided with a weighted arm 29 to'overbalance the pawl 28 and auto- -matically throw the latter into engagement with the ratchet wheel 25 under-the iniiuence of gravity, except under the conditions gravity, is as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and in handle, it is this position of the operatin desirable that the pawl 28 be disengaged from the ratchet wheel'25. To accomplish this, the casing 12 is provided on its inner side, in the position most clearly illustrated in Fig. 3, with a stop 30 against which the arm 29 engages when the operating lever 16 reaches its normal position and whereby the pawl 28 is thrown into inoperative position, as will be understood. 4

In order to automatically hold the chain in any of its adjusted positions, the locking dog 17 is provided, the same having a' shoullunder` the inuence of'fgravity',v vto assume an operative position. It is Iprovided lwith, an extension or vhandle roper' 33 may be disengagedfw enever desired.

lAs clearly shown in Fig. 1, the brake chain 15. is provided -'with'a loop lportion atjits upper end which takes over Athe sprocket) wheel 14. Thev condition of this loop and` 'the remainder of the chainin normal :orv I 'e- .lease condltion vof the b rake,' `1s'as shown 1n Fig. 1. When Athe operator. desires to apply thebrakes, he oscillates the lever 16,'thus causing a rotationof the sprocket wheel in a clockwise direction. as the same is Viewedxf -inA Figs. 1 vand 3. .This consequently causes the pullin up ,of the left hand portion of the oop o the chain, as'viewedin Fig. 1, andpermits the right hand portion of said loop to fall or hang loosely. Also should -there be any appreciable amount of -slack in the sprocketchain, the operator can readily -and rapidly take up said-'slack by: pullin downwardly on'the l'righthandportion o the loo of the chainfbefore he begins to manipu atethe lever 162..;"The chain is released 'by actuating the dog 17 as hereinbefore described.

With the arrangement heretofore described,

I it is apparent that thereis no waste of material employed in the winding element for the chain, due to the fact thatv it is unnecessary to provide the necessary s ace for coiling the chain as has heretofore een customary. The brake is l.therefore unusually compact, light, and can be put in smallervspaces than brakes of a somewhat similar' type heretoforeusedand at the same time without sacrilicingrany strength or ease of operation. v f j In the modification illustrated in'Fig. 7,

the arrangement of parts is substantially the same as-that shown in the other figures-except that thebearing y122 from the base plate i 111 is made conical andwith the upper surface 40 thereof extending horizontally or stated in another manner, with the axis o the conical bearing 122 inclined slightly upwardly. A corresponding change in' the by which. ii

' day of VMay, 1917. shape of the 'inner bearing vsurfa' 3 e 41 of the sprocket wheel 114 isl made, thus inclining the ,Sprocket wheel so thatit is perpendicular to the axis of the conical bearing. With this arrangement, it is obvious that the oper. ating lever- 116 is inclined away from the' chain, which is represented conventionally by the dot and dash line 42, thus giving a somewhat greater clearance at the lower end ofv the operating lever for the hand of the operator. Furthermore, thev conical bearing 122 afords a somewhat stronger construction4 I dueto its tapered-formation which places the lowerl portion of the bearing under compressio'n when tensionA is placed on the Sprocket wheel 114. The operation is the i same as thatv for the other I claim:

1. In a brake forrailway-cars and the like, the vcombination With a sprocket wheel rotatably mounted about a substantially horizontally extendin axis, of a brake chain coconstruction.

operable with said sprocket wheel, means for rotating said sprocket wheel step by step, said means including an operating handle oscillatably mounted about said. axis, devices interposed between, said handle and the4 wheel, said handle normally depending un'- der the influence offgravity and said devices being in inoperative position.

2. In a brake of the character described, the combination with a housing adapted to be secured to a car wall, of a chain sprocket wheel vrotatably mounted within said 'hous-` ing, a pawl and ratchet mechanism including a gravity actuated pawl for rotating said wheel step by step, and means `for locking said wheel in position.

- 3. In a brake of the character described,

the combination' with va housingadapted t0- be secured to a car wall, of a sprocket wheel rotatably mounted within said housing and having two ratchet wheels `associated therewith, an operating. leverhaving a gravity' ,controlled pawl coperable with one of said ratchet wheels, a gravity controlled locking dog coperating with the other of said ratchet wheels, anda brake chain extending over said sprocket wheel.

"In witness that I claim the foregoing I ,f

have hereunto subscribed my name this 31st JOHN r. 'ocoNNon 

